Binary Option Platforms and How You can Use Them Effectively?

To trade in binary options, there are different types of trading platforms present. You need to know about what types of platforms are present and how you can use them to gain more advantage. The main thing that differentiates binary options from gambling is a binary options trader does a complete analysis before he starts his trading, while a gambler just makes his bets on luck.

Types of Platforms Present

There are many binary options platforms present online. While some traders use different platforms and like to involve more than one in their strategies, others find that they work well with a selected few platforms only. Knowing different platforms will help you decide on what is effective for you. 

• Sixty Second Trading – This is a universal type of platform that can be used by both amateurs and trading pros. The ease of use makes it a preferred choice except for the expiry time, which is just one minute. 
• Digital Options Pro – This is another convenient and easy to use platform that is generally offered by all brokers. Similar to the sixty seconds trading platform this too can be used by beginners and experts. 
• One Touch – This is a highly profitable platform that provides a payout of nearly 500% in case the value of assets nears the set target. 
• Option Builder – In this platform, the returns on the investment can be adjusted and you are able to control the amount of profit you make. 
• Meta Trader – This is a highly advanced platform that is used by experts and technical analysts. 

Choosing the Platform

Since there are many platforms present, their selection depends on the choices that the trader makes in relation to the use of financial tools. A trader can earn a considerable sum in commodities in general if he can keep up with the daily trading. This is more difficult in case of binary options as it has only two main outcomes namely earning a fixed amount of money or commodity, or losing the investment altogether. To choose the best platform, a trader needs advice of a dependable broker. A broker helps in studying various platforms and how to increase profits with the options present. 

Finding a Broker

The broker should have the following qualities:

• He should be reputable, stable, and make reliable decisions 
• The returns made should be near 70% 
• You need to read the reviews, terms and conditions and all the relevant fine print 
• A broker with a demo account will be more effective 
• Customer service team should be verified for proper and prompt service 
• The trading tools and features present should be able to increase the asset value considerably 

Greater Opportunity

The platform selected should provide more variety of assets with which you can trade. Since there are many ways in which investors can keep track of the assets like the news channels, internet, and financial magazines, giving traders a wider selection of opportunity will help them make more profits.

The simplest method in which you can profit in the financial market is by binary options. No technical skill or experience is needed in this whole picture. But with the proper knowledge about the platforms present and the brokers, an investor can certainly be assured of greater profits.

Author Box:

Philip Barry relates the importance of choosing a suitable platform to preserve your winning chances with best binary options available. He equally puts his emphasis on choosing a right broker that can understand your needs before taking care of your hard earned funds.

4 Reasons Binary Options Trading Is Great for Newbies

binary options (Photo credit: opportplanet)

Those who are less accustomed to the rules of the trading world might find talks about binary options as foreign as an unknown language. However, as most expert brokers will be quick to explain, understanding binary options is not at all that difficult. In fact, they are considered perfect for newbie traders: though they do come with significant risk, they are also a major source of profit – and, the best thing about them – they are no-strings attached. If you’re thinking of giving binary options trading a go, here are the four basics that you need to know about.

1. A bit of history about binary options

Since we live in a pre-eminently digital era nowadays, many people tend to assume that binary options have always been digitally traded. This, however, is not true – for a long time, they were available over the counter, and could be purchased directly from the institution that issued them. Back then, though they were considered financial instruments, they were part of the exotic options category. They could not be traded on a liquid market and, more often than not, they were offered as part of more complex options contracts.

Since 2008, binary options have been traded on specialized websites and this has also given rise to the emergence of numerous websites explaining how to do binary trading online. It’s worth bearing in mind that online traded binary options are non-exchange-traded (more on that in the following section, which explains the difference between the various types of binary options). Current estimates (as of August this year) say there are over 200 websites up and running online at the moment and they are trading roughly 125 different kinds of underlying assets. Non exchange-traded binary options became regulated as financial instruments in Cyprus, as of May 2012, and in Malta, as of March 2013. In the United States, trading is legal, but not regulated.

2. Types of binary options

There are several criteria according to which binary options can be classified, but perhaps the most important distinction is the one made according to the way in which these options are traded. The categories, in this respect, are two: exchange traded and non-exchange-traded binary options. If getting into the technical details sounds daunting, then let’s put it this way: if you’re trading binary options online, you are taking part in a non-exchange trade. This class of binary options has a pre-determined expiration date, which needs to be attained in order for the owner of the options to buy, sell, or trade them in any way. They also come with a pre-established rate for profit (or loss), which is one and the same, irrespective of the difference between the options’ stake price and the value of the underlying assets.

Exchange traded binary options have been available in the United States since May 2008, when they were first introduced by the American Stock Exchange, also referred to as Amex. The Chicago Board Options Exchange followed suit the next month. These European binary options, which operate according to the cash-or-nothing principle, have been standardized. As such, the owners of the options can trade them with continuous quotations, i.e. a way of knowing what the price of the options and the assets has been historically, up to a certain point. 

3. Binary options trading basics

In order to best understand how the process of trading binary options goes, let’s focus on an actual example. Trading starts with a market watch for one or several assets in which one would be potentially interested to trade. 

For the purpose of this example, let’s say it is one of the indexes offered by the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the S&P 500. When the trader decides to invest, the index is sitting at 1175, and the trader believes that, according to their observations, it is going to rise. Binary options are then purchased through a broker, which will offer a strike price on that binary option and a time frame for it. 

In this example, let’s say that expiration comes at the end of the trading day – although binary options can come with just about any expiration frame, be it half a minute, several hours, or several days. Since the trader believes the price is going to increase, they buy a call option; the opposite, when one believes the price is going to fall, is to buy a put option. 

In this case, the payout is 80 per cent for the option ending the trading day ‘in the money’ (above the current index), and the loss is 95 per cent for an ‘out of the money’ situation (if the price should fall). The trader invests $100 and, at the end of the day, finds that the index has gone up. They have just earned $80 – but it is true that, had their predictions gone awry, they would have lost $95.

Before deciding to purchase binary options from any particular broker, it is wise to inquire carefully about their conditions. Sometimes the price taken into account is the last quote on a particular index, but in other cases it is calculated according to the (bid+ask)/2 formula. Also, it may happen that the price has stagnated on expiry. In this case, most brokers will choose to return the buyer’s investment in full. One rule that is largely applied across brokers is to forbid traders from selling their options or choosing to leave the trade before the expiration time is up.

4. Risk management for binary options

Of course, any one trader may choose to manage their risks in any way they see fit. However, binary options are largely regarded as a safe financial instrument, particularly because, unlike vanilla options, the trader knows exactly how much they stand to lose or gain from each trade. It’s also important to understand that, when trading binary options, the margin by which the price varies on a particular asset is irrelevant. All the trader needs to do is estimate whether it will rise or fall. Lastly, most brokers will charge no fees or commissions to binary options traders – this is a very attractive specific condition for beginner traders, who will want to give trading a go, but without having to pay for their one-off chance.

What to Look for in a Forex and Binary Options Platform

binary options (Photo credit: opportplanet)

Forex and Binary options are among the simplest and most lucrative way of earning money today. Its popularity among investors is because it can be accessed online at all times. Another factor contributing to its popularity is that an investor does not have to be skilled or experienced to trade. However, just like any other business, a trader must follow some tips in order to be guaranteed of making a profit. 

There are several Forex and Binary Options platforms that can help an investor earn more profits. With the high number of platforms it can be a daunting task for an investor to select the best. Below are some of the things an investor needs to look for when choosing a platform to trade Forex and Binary Options.

It is best to select a platform that gives a return even when an investor is out of money. It can be quite disappointing and discouraging to lose cash and, therefore an investor needs to choose a platform that offers some form of return even for negative outcomes. Not many platforms offer such returns but there are ones that do offer up to a 15 percent return on out of cash results.

An investor or trader should also choose a platform that provides a wide range of trading assets. Today, investors have the opportunity to follow the movement of assets through financial newspapers, business news channels and the internet. A platform that provides a wide selection of assets offers the investor more opportunities to make profits.

There are also some Forex and Binary Options platforms that charge some form of joining fee, so an investor has to take care with such platforms with hidden costs or joining fees. Before starting to trade with any platform, it is important to learn about the joining charges and other fees before signing up. Quality platforms with a good reputation have a page committed to providing this information. 

A trader should also choose a Forex and Binary options platform that has excellent customer support. A good customer service department will ensure that any assistance needed can be provided within the shortest time possible as required. This is important because regardless of an investor's experience, sometimes one might need technical or other assistance. 

Therefore, customer support provided should be good to advise and offer help when required. An experienced customer service team should be trained in order to offer instant help without having to make other enquiries which can waste precious time.

Choosing a Forex and Binary Options platform that puts the investor first allows you to focus on your trades and profits.

How to Make Money with Binary Options?

Binary options trading is the newest form of online trading on the Internet. The Industry was established in 2008 when US authorities officially legalized this form of online trading and gave the permission for US companies to apply for a financial trading service provider license at the CFTC.

But what are binary options and can you really make money with them? 

What are Binary Options? How do they Work?

Binary options trading is basically speculating on the future movement of various underlying assets. An underlying asset can be anything that’s publicly traded, such as the exchange rate between various currencies, stocks of companies, commodities like gold, silver and more. And to make it easy, online trading binary options is so convenient.

Unlike in regular stock trading, in binary options trading you will not have to actually purchase any asset. You will merely be betting on the future movement of an asset of your choice. One might even say that this type of trading is more like sports betting; and while there is certainly some truth in it, in reality in binary trading you can actually influence the outcome of your “bets”.

Lets take a concrete example in order to illustrate how binary options trading works:

• Imagine that the stocks of Microsoft are at $300 at this very moment
• You predict that the value of Microsoft’s stocks will increase above $300 within 2 days.

Now, at a binary broker you will have the possibility to purchase a binary options contract that predicts that the value of Microsoft’s stocks will increase in the future. 

• Imagine that the broker offers a payout rate of 90%
• You intend to invest a total sum of $100

In case your prediction will come true, then you will be receiving a total payout of $190. This is calculated by multiplying your initial investment with the payout percentage, which will be your profit margin. The broker will also return your initial investment, hence the $190 price.

So, as a concept, binary options indeed work like sports betting however here if you have expertise in financial matters then you will be able to predict the outcome of your bets. Many people who are involved in business and finance are perfectly capable of making correct predictions.

And the great part about binary trading is the fact that you will be paid out with very high payouts. Like in the example above, if you invested $100, you won $190. You would have won that amount even if the value of Microsoft’s stocks had increased to just only $301 from the initial $300.

However, would this have been normal stock trading, then to earn $90 profits you would have had to buy stocks worth $27,000 at the price of $300 to gain $90 profits while selling them at $301. – So, as you can see, the difference is huge.

Can you Really Make Money?

If you paid attention to the above example, then for sure you have noticed that yes you can indeed make money with binary options. However, you will have to treat binary options as a form of investment and not sports betting. If you buy binary options contracts by random then you will obviously lose.

If, however, you have the patience and discipline to conduct serious market research, then yes, you can indeed make large sums of money. Take the Microsoft example above. If for example you have researched that Microsoft will release a new product next week, then you can be 99% sure that the stocks of the company will increase after the product launch.

Instead of purchasing Microsoft stocks for like $10,000 hoping make around $100 profits, you can just invest $300 in a binary options contract that predicts that the value of Microsoft will increase make $200 profits that way. Doesn’t this sound easier?

But where’s the catch?

Well, there isn’t really a catch in the traditional sense of the word. However, if your prediction will not come true then you will lose all your investment. – But as explained, IF you are determined to conduct a proper research before investing, then you will be able to achieve a winning ratio of around 80% at any moment (just for reference purposes: Most of the time if you achieve a winning ratio of around 55% you will be making guaranteed profits.

Is Binary Options Trading Legal?

In most countries binary trading is at this moment either not regulated or legal. Options trading is not explicitly illegal in any country. If you live in a country where binary trading is not regulated then you should only invest at brokers that are regulated in other countries.

Laws in the United States

At this moment in the United States only NADEX (North American Exchange Derivative) is legal and licensed. All other brokers operate outside of the law. NADEX is officially licensed and regulated by the CFTC and SEC.

Laws in Europe and other jurisdictions

In most places outside of the United States binary options trading is not regulated. In Europe binary trading is regulated only in Cyprus, Italy and the United Kingdom. Brokers that are licensed in one of these countries are legally allowed to operate in other European countries as well.

In most other countries binaries are not regulated however this does not mean that they are not legal. This merely means that the government of those countries is at this moment not invested in this form of financial trading and it allows citizen’s to decide what to do in this regard.

However, people living in unregulated markets are recommended to only trade at brokers licensed in other countries, preferably in Europe. This is an absolute must, since brokers “licensed” in some weird places like Cayman Islands are fraudulent.

Future Regulation and Money Making Potential

It’s expected that more and more countries will in the future decide to regulate binary options. This will result in a much safer industry and much more advantageous and safer services. However, until then, people interested in this form of online trading are recommended to stick to the trusted USA or European brokers only.

So, in short, binary options trading is indeed a good method to generate money online. However, this form of trading should not be underestimated and treated lightly. If you treat it professionally and do your homework then you will definitely be able to make consistent profits.

Are You Retired? Here are some great Investment Opportunities for you!

"A great person, Mike Philips, once said- Money will come to you when you are doing the right thing."

If you are retired or are retiring shortly, you can make use of many of the investment opportunities given below which are available to you at your disposal and which will ensure that you get just the right amount of financial security blanket after retiring. If you invest in any of these regularly, you can have your guardian angel protecting you financially when you are retired and facing the world without a job for the rest of your life.

The EPF or the Employee Provident Fund:

For employees working in establishments having employees more than twenty in number, it is compulsory for employees to deposit 12 per cent of the value of their Income (Basic wage, dearness allowance and the cash value of all food allowances given) in an EPF account. In addition to this contribution, even the employer contributes the same amount. The interest rates of such an account are decided from time to time by the Central Government. Furthermore, the balance of such an account is liable to be transferred in case you decide to switch jobs. You will not lose any of your investment. 

The VPF or the Voluntary Provident Fund:

Normally, the contribution of an employee is 12 per cent but he can increase this if he wants by opting for a voluntary provident fund scheme. The excess amount paid by him will be given interest at the same rate as the 12 per cent. The amount contributed to the Provident Fund is also exempted from tax.

The PPF or the Public Provident Fund:

This is another investing opportunity for those who are interested. This can be opened with any nationalized bank or a post office. One advantage that the previous scheme (VPF) has over this one (PPF) is that in the case for VPF, you do not need to wait in long lines at banks to fill out forms and to complete other formalities. All you have to do is inform your employer and the work is done. 

The NPS or the National Pension Scheme:

This is a relatively new pension based scheme which has been introduced by the Government. In this scheme, the investor can invest in three different schemes which will offer him a high return once he attains the age of seventy.

Using Fixed Deposits:

Another way to ensure a financially secure retired life is to start investing in fixed deposits. It is a safe and easy option. Just start by investing a small portion of your monthly income in fixed deposits which are preferably long term. Redeem them after retirement along with the high rate of interest that it gets you.

Try your hand at Equities:

A riskier, yet highly rewarding option, is to start investing in equities. These can provide you with the long term capital gains so needed in your old age. Creation of a diversified portfolio will help you get high returns and a security about your financial future.

Binary Options:

These are a relatively newer form of investment and involve investing your money in financial instruments called binary options. These offer high and quick rates of returns. You can also trade in them on a daily basis online and enjoy retirement while continuously surprising your spouse with the extra income from binary options earnings.

Understanding Binary Options Trading

binary options (Photo credit: opportplanet)

When it comes to binary options trading, there are a lot of things that people would like to know. The most important thing that you should know first of all is that binary options trading is not something that you can expect to master on your own. Sure, you will be able to get a clear idea of the concepts and the basic terminology, but in order to be able to successfully predict and gain profits in this field, it is important for you to register the help of an experienced guide. 

Basically, the whole point of binary options trading is to make the correct predictions. When it comes to this type of trading, what you have to do is to predict the value of an asset as it would be after a certain period of time. If your prediction turns out to be true, you gain money on your investment.

And, if you fail to make the correct prediction, you will lose money. However, there are several brokers out there who will return a certain portion of your investment in case you lose.

At present, there are hundreds of different online trading platforms that people can choose from. When it comes to binary trading, all you need is knowledge, a computer and an internet connection. When it comes to binary options trading, here are a few things that set it apart from other types of trading:

• It is much more direct as compared to other types of trading 
• Those who learn to successfully trade binary options stand to gain lots of profits. 
• A lot of information is required before you can begin to play 
• You can learn with time, but it is going to give you a lot of losses. That is why your own will power plays a very big part here. 

If you are interested in binary options trading, the first thing that you need to do is to read a proper binary options review, which will tell you on how you need to trade options properly, and what the whole system is all about.

Binary options trading is all about making the right choices and the right investments, so if you are not experienced, it would be wise to join a forum in order to gain a clear idea about how binary options trading should be carried out.

Obviously, when it comes to trading assets, you will need to be vigilant in order to make sure that you get the right estimate, so your concentration levels play a very important part. You need to make sure that when trading assets, you have a binary options broker to consult with, as these experienced professionals can help you gain much higher profits.

Obviously, changes in the market value will affect your chances of success or loss, but the good thing is that you can make the right choice from the get go and stand to earn money on your investment! This is binary options trading in a nutshell!

Author Bio: Peter Christopher is an experienced financial writer and blogger. His forte is writing informative articles on different investment and personal finance topics.

Various Types of Binary Options

Binary options are meant for investors throughout the globe for trading. This is because only binary options trading can provide high return. Also binary trading involves low risk, with easy concepts and can be done easily, and hence attract more attention. Not only are the new traders, even the experienced traders too interested in binary trading.

The only thing that any trader taking up binary option trading should take care of is the expiry time. No matter whether the trader has opted for long term or short-term trade, this is the best thing to do. The expiry time vary from few minutes to many days. Also there are various assets available and these assets are stocks, currency pairs, commodities and indices.

The binary options which are known as digital options are excellent for those who want to earn dual benefits both by manual as well as internet trading. It is not at all tough to earn money through binary trading. The only thing the traders have to do is to do the estimation about the movement of the option and then take a decision. If the decision is correct then the trader earns good returns. However, a wrong decision would not give any financial benefit though the loss would be insignificant. There are two types of possibilities in binary trading options, one is “in the money” where the trader earns good amount of money and the other one is “out of the money” where the trader gets no financial rewards.

Here are the types of binary options available in the market. These are:

• Above/Below: This option is also known as High/Low and it is the most popular among the binary options. In this type of binary trading, the trader has to provide the estimation of the rise and fall of the value of an asset. There are two options ready for purchase in this type of binary trade. The call option is for those traders, who estimate that the price of the asset would be higher than the strike price. The ‘put’ option is for those traders who estimate the value of the assets to be lower than the strike price.
• Boundary or Range option: In this option the trader has to estimate whether the price of a particular asset would be within a specified range when the expiry time approaches. There are various types of values that are given and the traders have to estimate whether the price of the assets are within that range. If the trader choose the “In” option, that means that the trader would estimate that the price of the asset would be within the range of upper and lower value specified. If the trader chooses the “Out” option, it will mean that the asset price would be outside the specified value range.
• Touch: In this binary option, if the trader chooses the “Touch” option, then that means that the trader is estimating that the price of the asset will reach the strike price by the expiry day. If the “No Touch” option is selected, then the price of the asset would not reach the strike price according to the estimation of the trader.

How to Minimize Binary Trading Risk Using Hedging

Binary Options trading is currently the latest trend in the trading industry. It is a very easy way of making quick bucks and is full of risks and surprises. Binary trading follows an all or nothing approach towards trading and this is the main reason why you need to hedge your investments.

Hedging is nothing but protecting your earnings by reducing the risk to as low a level as possible. 

Hedging is applied not only to binary options like call and put but also to future contracts and short selling. Hedging ensures that the profit you have right now is locked and has no chances of evaporating.

You might be aware that binary options trading is primarily short term in nature and usually lasts from an hour to a day, at the most. 



The market fluctuations are small and intermittent and you might gain profits even before your hour expires. You have the option of either holding the share or you can sell it. 

You would hold the shares if you think that the prices might further rise and you would sell it if you think that this is the highest your share will reach.

As far as hedging the profits is concerned, you have the following two options -

1. Full Hedging – Full Hedging means that you hedge your entire holding. This implies that you will sell all your shares by the end of the hour and collect all the profits. This would bring your overall risk element down as your full position is hedged against any adverse time the market might fall into. Most expert traders and binary option brokers go for this if they are willing to be on the safer side.

2. Partial Hedging – Partial Hedging is a much more risky way of hedging but is safer when you compare it to the risk you would have had you not taken any hedging at all. In this, you sell part of your holdings and hold the rest. If the market is going in the general direction of your expectations, then this would be a prudent move as you get some profits right now and might earn more if your estimates are correct.

Once you get familiarized with the concept of hedging, you would be able to maximize your profits with minimum risks. It would ensure that you have the safest holdings and would also reduce the element of uncertainty to a large extent.